Many small businesses are not aware of the benefits that procurement knowledge can bring to their business, according to a consultant.

Ray Newall, who co-authored a book on spend management for SME’s, said that due to limited resources many small companies had only a basic knowledge of purchasing procedures.

Newall believes that increasing their knowledge of procurement could help them to improve their business practices, for example by forming consortia with other SME’s to get better deals from suppliers.

Newall’s book, ‘Manage My Spend’ is designed as a bridge for those with no purchasing knowledge to gain an understanding of the fundamentals of the subject before moving on to more advanced CIPS purchasing courses.